


Impromptu Date with a Vampire

by Bleck



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: A little, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, autistic tobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 19:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11065899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleck/pseuds/Bleck
Summary: Tobias goes to Rachel's house to get out of a storm and they end up talking about his past. Not an AU.





	Impromptu Date with a Vampire

**Author's Note:**

> This is not my first animorphs fanfic but it is the first one I am publishing. It's kind of sad for a bit but nothing really outside the norm for Animorphs.

The last couple days have not gone well. Monday was mostly just a regular day although the only reason I knew what day it was was because Marco complained about having to go back to school and make up a science test the day before. School might have been nice. It was something I missed as a hawk. Well, somewhat. When I was a human I was basically bully fodder so that wasn't great. But having to deal with homework and normal school stuff, sans the bullying, instead of a secret invasion of alien parasites, would be a nice change of pace.

I might have to step back a bit. My name is Tobias and I am a member of a group of kids called Animorphs. We six are the only things standing in the way of the Yeerks, the parasites, from controlling the earth and making everyone their slaves. We can fight because we have the ability to morph, to become any animal we touch. We were given this ability by a dying alien named Elfangor. He was an Andalite, a race of blue centaur like creatures with four eyes and a deadly sharp tail. His younger brother, Ax, is my best friend and a fellow animorph. Also, Elfangor happens to be my dad. I was a human before I became trapped as a hawk though. My life is weird.

The biggest drawback to the morphing ability is that there was a time limit. More than two hours in a morph and you'd be stuck in it, unable to ever morph again. I'm probably the only exception- a super powerful being called the Ellimist gave me the ability to morph again but left me as a hawk.

So you could see why a normal kids school day might seem nice. But it's a pipe dream for a million reasons. Even if I could be human for more than two hours and somehow avoid being bullied again, it's not like my old house was a great place to be. It was, even with all I had seen- all I had done for that matter- terrifying. Which was totally pathetic of me. Which was really just par for the course for human Tobias. 

Ok, maybe the past few days got me a little more broody than normal. I'm not normally one to focus too much on the past. I blame the Ellimist. I'm not sure he was involved and I wouldn't be able to understand why he had been but that was normal where he was concerned. He did things that left everyone else totally confused. If you came up to the rest of the animorphs and said that you blame the Ellimist they'd agree with you on principle. Well, ok, they would laugh at you to maintain their cover as regular kids but still. They're about as fond of him as I am. 

Rachel is probably the exception. She doesn't like him more or anything. Not at all. She hates him almost as much as she hates the Yeerks, Crayak, or my uncle. Potentially not in that order. They're all kinds of subjects we avoid talking about. She was more upset he hadn't given me my human body back than I was. 

Back to Monday though. Monday was bad for more normal reasons. The lack of food specifically. That sounds a lot closer to other people's normal than if I say that there weren't any mice or voles or the like for me to tear apart as their heartbeat fades. I had to fly into town and steal an eel. It tasted ok but, because of the associated memory of morphing eels, I hadn't done that in months.

Tuesday was worse. I was hanging around in Ax's scoop, perched on a rod he had set up up for me, preening my feathers and allowing him to talk without interrupting him. I was visiting a little bit because a storm was coming but I was mostly there because he was my shorm. Shorm was an Andalite term. Best friend was probably the closest human equivalent but it paled in comparison. He was fiddling with...a thing. He tried telling me what the device was supposed to do if it worked and if he was correct about some of the parts being the "primitive, very primitive, equivalent" of some kind of Andalite device but it was way above my head. 

Parts of it ended up over both our heads when it exploded.

We looked at each other. Ax looked down at the slightly charred shape of metal he had dropped with his main eyes but kept eye contact with me with one of his stalk eyes. The other looked around, probably for parts that had scattered.

<Tobias, is there anyway we can keep this from the others? Especially Marco as he can be...> He asked.

<Marco, yea. We can keep this between us, Ax-man.> I agreed.

Marco visited later and found out anyway. As he was leaving though, he brought up the health class curriculum they started. I warned him I knew about the human reproductive system and what sex was so we could definitely not have that conversation. He said it wasn't about that. That it had to do with abuse. I left before he could get any farther. Sure, Marco could be totally obnoxious and could easily take a joke too far or joke about something too close to home, but he was still a friend. We all cared about each other in our own way. As I left, I wondered why he was the first to bring it up and not Cassie. It not like he was the only one who knew what my life was like before the animorphs.

Today was definitely worse. I had been out hunting to pack up on food, as an animal does when a storm is very near, when the storm finally hit. And it hit hard. I was soaked to the bone by the time I made it two hundred feet, a distance made difficult with the wind and the force of it working against me. It was difficult, outright bad, flying towards Rachel's house. The rain was freezing and the wind got so bad that it was almost impossible to fly at all. If I thought it would've been any easier getting there as a human, I would've morphed. As it were, I was better of as a hawk with as miserable as it was flying. 'Miserable' and 'flying' were words rarely used in the same sentence.

Of course though, when I finally got there after a grueling flight, her window was closed. Of course. Because why would she leave it open when there was going to be a storm? Her house was supposed to have been quicker to get to than Ax's scoop. Now it seemed like I was going to have to go all the way back. Great. I looked at the distance between the birdhouse she left for me to perch on and the ground. I toyed with the idea of morphing hork-bajir to get inside but dismissed it. Yea, the visibility was bad even as a hawk but I was pretty close to the street. I was about to take off when, suddenly, there was a bolt of lightening in the sky. Hork-bajir it was. I wasn't in the mood to get struck by lightening any time soon. I landed on the ground and morphed as quickly as I could. My hawk instincts didn't like water and my human side had some bad memories of water in general. 

When I was fully morphed, I pushed open her window with my clawed hands. Boy was I glad Rachel didn't lock her window. I demorphed as soon as I did and flew inside. I morphed human right after, exhausting as so many morphs in such a short period of time were, and shut the window. Her desk was right under it but she didn't have any papers on it. That was good. I hoped it dried by the time she got back from school. According to her alarm clock, it was 11:30. At least she hadn't- before I could finish the thought she had lost power.

Usually when I was in her room I used her alarm clock to time my human morph to do some of her homework. Guess that was off the table. Being almost blind as a human I decided it was best to just sit on her bed. 

"Oh." I said aloud. I don't think I had ever actually sat on her bed before. It was soft, a bit too soft actually after living as a hawk for so long. As a human though, before the war, I dreamed of a bed anywhere near this soft. It was just my luck as an animorph. I might have sniffed her pillow and fiddled with her sheets but it totally wasn't creepy.

I was nervous. Even though it had only been a couple of minutes, I felt like I needed to demorph. I really didn't like not being able to see the time when I was in morph or away from Ax. It was more than that though. My nervousness had crept up on me as I sat down and enjoyed Rachel's bed. I tried to tell myself that the darkness of the bedroom didn't make me nervous just because the power being shut off at my uncle's wasn't an uncommon occurrence. I tried to tell myself the storm outside didn't mean my uncle was downstairs, getting more drunk than he normally did. That he wasn't waiting for me to show my face to beat me or come upstairs and yell about how lazy or pathetic I was then beat me.

"He isn't down there! He isn't! It's Rachel's house, not his. I'm safe. I'm safe." I said to myself. I was scratching at my arm before I realized it. It wasn't bloody yet but it had been before. I hadn't done that in years. I was going to be sick. Thankfully, Rachel had her own bathroom and I didn't end up puking on her carpet. That would've been awkward to explain.

My head was resting against the wall when I heard people come in. Was it the Yeerks? Had they found her?! My panic and nausea redirected to that. I was already shrinking back to hawk, my guts changing first apparntly, before I was able to puke again. When I was fully hawk, but before I could morph hork-bajir to fight in such close quarters, I heard them. Sarah and Jordan. Rachel's younger sisters. They were what, ten and six? Not that that kept them safe from being Controllers but they were talking about school. 

"Is mommy home?" That must be Sarah.

"I don't think so, Sarah. Rachel should be home soon. Or maybe she is. Let's go check." Jordan said.

Ok, so not the Yeerks. That was great. But they were also coming upstairs and I was currently a red tailed hawk in their sister's bathroom. Think Tobias!

"Rachel? Are you home? School let us out early to. I hope they let you out early anyway." Jordan asked before she opened the door. The young girl walked around, unsure in the dark. "Are you trying to scare us?" She walked carefully towards the bathroom and poked her head in. She left once she figured out that Rachel was, in fact, not trying to scare them.

Once they left, I flapped my way out of the shower and landed on the edge of the sink. Being on the floor was weird without something to perch on. A high perch was always better though. When I got a moment to think, I thought it was weird that they let out the young kids before the older ones. But maybe it was closer or something. I don't know. I guess I couldn't really expect schools to care about their students. I flapped to Rachel's headboard to rest. My hawk instincts were still uncomfortable being so confined but I pushed those down. It was way better than being in a tree during a storm so bad schools were sending kids home.

Some time later, almost right after I morphed back to human, Rachel came in. I could hear her clear as day. She was complaining about the "stupid weather, stupid rain!" and calling to see if her sisters were home.

"Rachel!" They called back.

"Hey you two. The bus driver was a stupid substitute and had to circle back for missed stops." Rachel didn't exactly do apologies but it was close. It's not like it was her fault she was late though.

"You didn't make your bed, meanie. You and mom always tell us to." Jordan said.

"What? Yea I did. And why were you in my room to begin with?" Rachel questioned.

<"Can I say shrimp?" Jordan teased. I have no idea why she didn't just tell her the truth though.

"Shut it!" Rachel growled. Jordan threw out some old shrimp or something, Rachel had been very upset, I wasn't sure on the details. Rachel stomped upstairs and slammed her bedroom door. She dropped her soaking wet school bag and jacket and opened a drawer in her desk. Two stick candles, candle holders or whatever they were called, and a lighter. After she lit the first one she almost dropped it.

"Tobias! What the heck are you doing here? And how'd you even get in here?" Rachel demanded, fury in her voice.

It was like I was back in time. My uncle towering over me, drunk and angry, furious and about to hit me again.

"Tobias." Rachel said, bringing me back to the present. She wasn't angry though. I wasn't sure what that emotion was but her voice was soft. I almost didn't hear it.

"...Sorry." I said even though it took me a minute to be able to speak.

"I just didn't expect you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't of snapped." She apologized. What? 

"Sorry." That didn't make any sense but it's all I could think to say. I knew she wasn't my uncle but standing over me in the dark like that, I couldn't help it.

"Quit it! You don't need to constantly...apologize." She said like that meant something. Her candles forgotten on the desk, she hugged me tight. "Are you ok?"

"Uh, yea. I guess. Why?" I was very confused.

"I snapped and you...you shrunk back looking so terrified. I didn't mean to scare you like that. You don't think I'm that awful, do you?" This was a side of Rachel other people didn't get to see. I rarely got to see it.

No, you're not. But my uncle is.

"What did you just say?" It wasn't a question.

I hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Uh, nothing." I lied, totally uselessly.

"Tobias." She said. "What did that monster do to you?" Rachel didn't actually say monster but I was so surprised to hear her say what she actually said I think I filtered it out for a second.

I shook my head. "I...I...no." I couldn't get anything out and started to furiously scratch my arm again.

"Tobias!" She yanked my arms apart. "Don't do that!" 

"Sorry." I choked out.

She scowled at my apology and was about to say something but her face softened. She was so beautiful. "Come here." She said. We were sitting right next to each other so I was confused.

"We're sitting right next to each other." I said, lamely. 

"Here." She gestured to her lap after she stretched out on her bed. Oh.

"Uh, ok." Again, totally lame of me.

I moved closer but she shuffled me where she wanted me. My head was on her chest and I was definitely about to die.

"We've been talking about some stuff." She said as she hugged me.

"Who has? The animorphs?" I whispered.

"No. Well a little, sure, but not really. In school. Health class." She started out. I almost started to flap my currently nonexistent wings. I guess that's what the hug was for. "Yea, Marco might have mentioned what happened. Tobias, I'm so sorry." I know she wasn't talking about Marco. I could feel my chest tightening.

"I know you don't like talking about it. I understand."

"I really hope you can't." I told her.

She didn't say anything for a few minutes. "I'm going to hurt him. I promise you I'll make him regret ever thinking about hurting you."

"Rachel, you don't have to do that." Irrationally, I was scared he would hurt her to. Even though she could turn into a grizzly bear or a giant elephant and he was just a drunk, I was terrified he would do something to hurt her. I would never be able to forgive myself.

"I know I don't have to. I want to. I hate him so much! I hate him more than I hate Collaboraters. I might hate him more than I do the Yeerks! He's evil just because he's evil and he doesn't have any aliens to use as an excuse. Just regular human evil. Frigid disgusting." I know what she said was important but I couldn't help but me momentarily shocked by what she said at the end. She didn't say frigid. I think her mom would've slapped her for it. Or maybe not, I don't know what regular parents do. That was probably her point.

"Rachel..." I trailed off.

"Tobias, I can't let him just get away with it! Your aunt is probably a bean and I'd deal with her to if she didn't live on the opposite side of the country." Again, I filtered out a word. I was getting more surprised she was swearing than anything else which really didn't make any sense. "I won't let him haunt you."

"He's not-"

"I can tell, Tobias. I know what fear looks like. He can't hurt you again. He isn't here. I won't let him near you. I won't. I promise. It'll be ok." She said even though she was shaking slightly. No, wait, that was me. I was crying.

She hugged me and we both cried. Distantly I wondered if it was possible to actually cry angry tears as well as sad ones at the same time because I was pretty sure Rachel was. But mostly I was just crying. The memories hurt too much to do anything else.

I don't know how long we cried but it was a while. My face was red, my eyes burned, tears stung and I was pretty sure I had soaked the recently dried part of her shirt. I was sure neither of us had cried that long in a very long time. I wasn't sure if Rachel ever had. It was bad to be caught crying at my uncle's.

After a few more minutes Rachel pushed us both up. She wiped her tears away then my own. Without a word, she got up and started getting changed. I looked away quicker than Marco would've. Definitely slower than Jake though.

"Come on." She said. I turned around.

"You're doing it now?" I asked. "I can't come. I know I'm a coward but I can't. I don't even think you should do it really."

"You are NOT a coward. You lived through so much more than any of us. You survived. You're not a coward. You're so brave, Tobias." She said, too sternly for me to contradict her even though I disagreed. "That's not what I meant though. You need to demorph and morph back. Then get dressed in real clothes if you want to eat."

"Your sisters are here. And your mom might be home soon." I said.

"My sisters are here which is why I'm going to go downstairs and make sure they're ok. Then I'm going to make some food because my mom won't be home soon. She called the school, she's stuck at the office." Rachel explained.

"Ok, but if I'm eating in your room why do I need to get changed?" 

"You're not." She said like it was obvious.

"You want me to risk being seen by your sisters?" I asked.

"No, I want you to be seen by my sisters and vampires can't look like that." 

"Uh, I thought I was the sci-fi/fantasy geek." 

"You are but so is Jordan."

"Wait. Am I Angel?" That was amazing.

"No. Yes. Sort of. She thinks I'm the Slayer and you're a vampire." Rachel said with a small smile. I smiled back though I wasn't sure if it looked ok. It was a nice idea and I guess it guaranteed her sisters' silence. She grabbed the candles and the lighter.

"Alright." I said, attempting another smile. She smiled back before kissing me. She got to the door before turning around to kiss me again. Rachel smiled at me before closing the door behind her.

I started to demorph again. I fell without falling as my height decreased. I could hear and see the bones in my feet shift as they became my more familiar talons and hawk legs. My organs disappeared, became new ones, and became hawk ones. Then what looked like feather tattoos appeared on my skin before popping out of my skin to become real ones. Bones in my arms and hands grinded against each other as they became wings. I could almost hear them become hollow. My mouth was the last to go. Disgustingly, my lips became a beak while I still had human teeth. It didn't hurt but it was a weird experience I could really do without. 

I flapped back to her headboard and waited. I wasn't sure where she kept clothes for me and I absolutely refused to go through her drawers. With nothing else to do, I preened my feathers as I thought about what Rachel said. Would she hurt my uncle? Maybe, I really wasn't sure. Did I care if she did? For some stupid reason, I think I did. I definitely didn't want her to kill him. That was more for her sake than his though. So why did it matter if she hurt him!? Cassie might understand if I felt like telling her. Not that I really wanted to. Normally. There were very rarely, very very rare, times I did want to cry to someone about it. I had never done it before now though.

Rachel came back up the stairs. I knew how she walked. I could tell Jake was coming just by how he walked to. Not that he was coming right now. Just in general. I didn't think about what that meant very much though. It was all complicated enough as it was. Rachel found me in the dark. "Ready?" She asked. I nodded, probably strange to see from a bird but they were used to it, and demorphed on her floor. She watched even though it was gross.

Before I was done, she had pulled some clothes out from a box under her bed. That made sense. "I've seen Buffy, vampires don't usually have a sense of style. Not that I'm complaining. I like that you have clothes for me. It's just that Buffy has definitely commented on the clothing choices of vampires." I commented when I was done and had a mouth.

"Whatever." Rachel rolled her eyes but I could tell she liked that I liked her picking out clothes for me. She turned around when I grabbed the clothes but didn't get dressed. I wasn't entirely against her looking but I don't know, I guess I wasn't exactly ready. I was never very comfortable as a human.

The clothes looked nice. Obviously since it was Rachel who picked them out. Even though I knew they looked nice, I wasn't really sure why. Fashion was strange. Rachel turned around when I was done to appraise me. She straightened a sleeve and walked over to her jewelry. I didn't know why but waited expectantly.

"What do you think of wearing a clip on?" She asked.

"A clip on what?"

"An earring." That made sense.

"Sure." I said.

Rachel came back with a small silver earring. It didn't actually have a clip on it but it looked like you just put it on. A not complete circle basically. "It's a cuff." She explained when she put it on.

"Shall we, vampire boyfriend?" She asked, holding out her arm. I smiled and took it. It lasted until we got to her stairs and had to let go. She held my hand instead. That was really nice.

Sarah and Jordan were sitting at their kitchen table with four empty plates. Now that we were down here, I realized I had no idea what Rachel was going to make with no power.

"When did you die?" Jordan asked the second she saw me. Kids.

"Jordan!" Rachel scolded even though she wanted to laugh.

"A couple months ago." I said. It wasn't technically a lie. I had stopped being mostly human a couple months ago.

"Can you show me your game face?" She asked.

"No." Rachel and I said at the same time.

"Well can you turn into a bat?"

"Yes." I did have a bat morph so that counted as the truth.

"Wicked." She said. "Wait, you don't kill people right? I guess you wouldn't or Rachel would have to stake you. Rachel, you should wear a cross like Buffy does so vampires dont hurt you." 

"We're Jewish." Rachel snorted.

"I don't kill people. I mostly eat small animals. Rats and stuff." Also the truth. Rachel was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Eww. But that's better than killing people. What's your name?"

"Tobias."

She nodded. "I knew it! You're the riffraff mom didn't want Rachel hanging around. How'd you die?"

"It's complicated." Rachel told her mom about me?

"It's not like we can do anything else." She countered.

"He doesn't have to talk about it." Rachel said.

"Come on! Please? I'll tell mom you're dating the undead if you don't let him tell me." Wow. Little sisters were really something.

"Go ahead, she won't believe you." Rachel said.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? Pleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"Ok." I cut her off. I had no idea how parents said no to that. "It was...my uncle." Becoming a hawk had a lot to do with not dealing with him or my aunt so it was close to the truth. A truth I tended to not not acknowledge even to myself. It still hurt to say though.

"Oh my god, your uncle killed you? That's so messed up. Also super not complicated but whatever. He's a vampire right? Rachel, have you staked him yet?" She asked.

"Not yet." Rachel said, looking at me like maybe that was a good idea.

"What kind of Slayer are you? What kind of girlfriend? Does true love mean nothing to you?! You can't let vampires go roaming around the city. He killed your boyfriend, you're super supposed to stake him." Jordan said. I wanted to laugh but Rachel glared at me so I didn't. "I'd tell your Watcher if I knew who they were. What's their name? Do you have a girl Watcher?"

"Aren't you supposed to be afraid that vampires or something might hurt you?" I asked so Rachel wouldn't have to answer.

"Uh, no. Duh. My sister is the Slayer. And cousin Jake and the other Scoobies will protect us if they have to. Obviously."

"Obviously." Rachel mocked but Jordan didn't seem to get it.

"Who are the Scoobies?" I asked.

"You didn't tell him? Ugh, Rachel. Come on! The Scoobies are her regular human support. They help out with research and fighting sometimes although Rachel is better. Because she's the Slayer but you know that. Do any of them do magic like Willow?"

"Not like Willow, no." Rachel said.

"It's totally Cassie, isn't it? It is." Jordan said.

"Maybe." Rachel said, shrugging.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "I already know you're the Slayer and who your vampire boyfriend is, you can tell me what the Scoobies do. I already know they're Jake, Cassie, and Marco. Marco would be Xander because he's the only funny one."

"And the loser." Rachel said with a smirk.

"Nuh uh!" 

"You're only saying that because you think he's cute." Rachel said.

"Shut up and make us food." Jordan retorted. "You can't tell Marco she said that even though it's a huge lie." She told me.

"I promise. Scouts honor."

"You can't be a Boy Scout." Jordan said.

"Well, yea, he's a vampire. But you know what that means. He isn't gonna tell Marco you like him." Rachel explained with a huff.

"I'm hungry!" Sarah complained.

"I know, I'm making pb&j now." Rachel said.

"Not that. Well, yes, you can't be anymore even if you would've been allowed in before you were sired."

"Oh?" I asked. I had no idea where she was going with this.

She looked at me like I was a total idiot. "The Boy Scouts don't let gay people in. Duh."

That did it, Rachel laughed. "I think you're a bit off, Jordan."

"I am not! Just because i'm ten doesn't mean i'm stupid. I've seen the way he looks at cousin Jake. Tobias is like, bisexual or whatever it is. He's a vampire, it's not like human rules matter anyway."

"That's, uh..." I didn't know what to say. She wasn't wrong.

"It ok, I won't tell him. It must be hard since he likes Cassie and Marco. I'm sure they'd all share you with Rachel anyway. Oh, but you can't do it with Rachel! You need your soul." Jordan said, very matter of fact.

"Jordan! On my god, don't say stuff like that you dip." Rachel said. She looked at me but I didn't know what it meant. Being autistic, it was difficult to understand body language.

"Ok, ok. Sheesh. But I'm sure they would. It's only normal. Well, not normal normal but you're fighting vampires and monsters and stuff so it's ok." 

"Shut up and make your own sandwich." Rachel said.

"Hey, you're supposed to make it! If you don't, i'll tell mom you're dating a bisexual creature of the night and sharing him with the Scoobies." She snapped back.

"Oh my god." Rachel groaned.

It was definitely one of the more interesting impromptu dates we had had in a while.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. Please leave kudos and comments.


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